At our Sunday With a Difference service discussed safeguarding and talked and prayed about how Christians across the country and in our own church are working to protect and look after victims and survivors of abuse.More than 3,000 churches took part across the country. Having taken part in the campaign, churches reported: greater positive awareness and understanding of safeguarding among church members an increase in the number of people feeling able to talk about their abuse for the first time more volunteers coming forward for safeguarding roles and to help with children’s and youth work an increased number of people completing safeguarding training and criminal record checks.
The old overhead heaters which were energy inefficient and expensive to run have gone! On Christmas day worshippers were treated to an unaccustomed blast of heat from above. The Holy Spirit? Possibly. New quartz halogen heaters? Definitely. Some people were even observed to be sitting in their pews without coats and gloves.Many thanks to Dave Young for project managing it all, @Herschel for advising and supplying the heaters; @David Skelton Electrics for working long hours in the cold to finish installing them in time for Christmas and @South Hill Parish Council for help with funding.A few minor tweaks will be carried out over the next few weeks, including linking the heaters to a remote control switch so that they can be switched on in the appropriate pews as people arrive and so that we can reduce or increase the heat as needed.
